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John HILL (c.1822–1897)
His wife Mrs Johanna HILL, née Brennan (c.1826–1909)
Their daughter Miss Marion Josephine HILL (1863–1937)
St Paul section: Row 25, Grave E9½

John Hill was born in Tipperary, Ireland in c.1822.

Johanna Brennan, sometimes recorded as Hannah or Anna, was born in the Cork district of Ireland in c.1826

They were both Roman Catholic, and were probably married In Ireland in c.1850. They had the following children:

• Robert Patrick Hill (born at Blackrock, County Cork, Ireland in 1854)
• Maria Hill (born in Oxford in 1856/7, reg. first quarter of 1857); later took the middle name Ellen
• John Patrick Hill (born in Oxford on 18 December 1858)
• Thomas Hill (born in Oxford on 9 January 1861); later took the middle name John
• Marion Josephine Hill (born in St Peter-le-Bailey parish, Oxford in 1863; reg. second quarter of 1863)
• William Joseph Hill (born in Oxford in 1865, reg. fourth quarter)
• Charles James Hill (born in Oxford in 1869, reg. second quarter).

John & Johanna Hill evidently moved from Ireland to Oxford soon after the birth of their first child in 1854.

At the time of the 1861 census John (38) was working as a gentleman's servant and living at 11 Bulwarks Lane in St Peter-le-Bailey parish with his wife Johanna (35) and their first four children: Robert (6) Mary (4) John (2), and Thomas (two months).

By 1871 John (49) was working as a porter and was living at Broken Hayes, also in St Peter-le-Bailey parish, with Johanna (46), and they now had seven children: Robert (16), who was an apprentice carpenter, and Maria (14), John (12), Thomas (10), Marion (8), William (5), and Charles (1).

Their eldest son was married near the beginning of 1878:

• In the first quarter of 1878 in the Headington registration district (probably at St Aloysius's Church),
  Robert Patrick Hill married Jane Sophia Griffin, who was born in Oxford.

In 1881 the family was living at a county council office at 8 New Road where Mrs Hill (55) was the officer keeper. Her husband John (59) was now an upholsterer's porter, and four of their children were at home: John (22) was an ironmonger's assistant; Thomas (20) was a cabinet maker; William (15) was a messenger; and Charles (11) was at school. Their daughter Maria (24) is hard to find in the census, but Marion (18) was out in service (see her separate biography below).

Two of their sons were married in the 1880s:

• In the second quarter of 1885 in Norwich, John Patrick Hill married Agnes Anastasia Rudd, who was born in Norwich;
• At much the same time, probably in Ireland, Thomas John Hill married his wife Lizzie, who was born in County Mayo.

John & Johanna Hill were still living at 8 New Road in 1891, and John Hill (69) rather than his wife was now listed as the office keeper. Only their youngest child, Charles (21) was now at home.

By 1897 John and Johanna Hill were living at Cardigan Street in Jericho and had probably moved in with their son Thomas, who had lost his wife at the end of 1892. John Hill died there that year, and his funeral was held by the Revd C. Nicholson at St Aloysius's Roman Catholic Church, followed by interment in St Sepulchre's Cemetery. Although they lived in St Barnabas's parish, because the funeral was not held there the burial was recorded in the register of the mother church of St Paul:

† John Hill died at Cardigan Street at the age of 75 on 14 April 1897 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 17 April (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

At the time of the 1901 census Johanna (75) was living at 44 Cardigan Street with her son Thomas, a widower of 44 working as a cabinet maker, and his children Bertram (13) and Percy (11). Her youngest son Charles (30), who was unmarried and working as a stationer's assistant, was also living with them.

Her son Charles was married in 1904:

• In the second quarter of 1904 in the Headington registration district, Charles James Hill married
  Mrs Laura Annie Oliver.

Mrs Hill went to live in Bournemouth with her unmarried daughter Marion, and died there in 1909. Her body was brought to Oxford for interment with her husband:

† Mrs Johanna Hill née Brennan died at Hinton Road, Bournemouth at the age of 83 on 2 January 1909 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 5 January (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

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Marion Josephine Hill (born 1863)

Their daughter Marion never married. At the time of the 1881 census when she was aged 18 she was a housemaid to a couple called Fullerton who lived at Ayrfield, Hinton Road, Bournemouth and had six other servants.

In 1891 Marion (28) was still in Bournemouth, working as a cook for an elderly widow Letitia Thompson (82) and her three daughters who lived at Nethercomplin, St Peter's Road.

By 1911 Marion (48) was living at a 16-roomed house called Ellendale in Hinton Road, Bournemouth and was described as the friend of the householder, a German widower of 73 called Jacob Dochnall. Two servants also lived there.

By 1937 she was living at 26 Stratfield Road in Summertown, possibly as a lodger. She died there in July that year, and her funeral was conducted by Father Dunstan Dubbins, followed by interment in St Sepulchre's Cemetery with her parents:

† Miss Marion Josephine Hill died at 26 Stratfield Road, Summertown at the age of 73 on 8 July 1937 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 12 July (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

Her effects came to £998 16s. 4d., and her executors were her nephew Charles James Hill, who was described as a picture-framer, and William Henry Ponsford, the head porter at Pembroke College.

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The other children of John and Johanna Hill

• Robert Patrick Hill (born 1854) was living in St Giles's Road West (the south end of Woodstock Road) in 1881 with his wife Jane and their children Kathleen (2) and Mary (1): Robert was described as a joiner, bookseller, stationer, and print dealer employing two men and two boys, and he ran shop for St Aloysius's Roman Catholic Church. One of the boys (a 13-year-old shop errand boy) lived with them, and they also had a 12-year-old servant girl. In 1891 his address was given as 21 & 23 Woodstock Road, which is next door to St Aloysius's Church at No. 25, and they had four more children: Francis or Frank (9), Cecilia (7), Ernest (5), and Winifred (3). In 1901 they were home with their six children, and Mary (21) was assisting in the bookshop while Frank (19) helped with the picture-framing side. Robert Patrick Hill died on 17 January 1910 and is buried in Wolvercote Cemetery, and his elder son Frank took over the business. The shop was demolished so that the church could have a front entrance to Woodstock Road.
• Maria Ellen Hill (born 1856/7) is hard to trace after the 1871 census.

• John Patrick Hill (born in Oxford in 1858) was an ironmonger's assistant in 1891, living at 46 Charlotte Road, Sheffield with his wife Agnes and their children Charles (4), Mary (3), and Gertrude (four months). By 1901 John (42) was the manager of an ironmonger's shop, living at 19 Hatfield Street, West Derby with his wife Agnes 43 and their children Charles (14), who was a trimmer in a tailor's shop, and Mary (13), Gertrude (10), and Theresa (3). By 1911 they were living at Hatfield Street, Liverpool, and only three of their seven children were still alive, namely Mary (23), who was a waistcoat maker; Gertrude (20), who was a saleswoman in the bag department of a drapery; and Theresa (13), who was still at school. He is probably the John P. Hill who died in Liverpool at the age of 75 in 1934.
• Thomas John Hill (born 1861) was working as a cabinet maker in 1891 and living at 44 Hurst Street in east Oxford with his wife Elizabeth (Lizzie) and their children Bertram (3) and Percival John (1). His wife died near the end of 1892 at the age of 31. At the time of the 1901 census Thomas (40) was living at 44 Cardigan Street in Jericho with Bertram (13), who was working as an errand boy, and Percival (11); his widowed mother and his younger brother Charles were also living with him. Thomas (50) was at the same address in 1911 with his younger son Percival (21), who was an electrician. He is probably the Thomas Hill (50) whose death was registered in the Headington district in the third quarter of that year.
• William Joseph Hill (born 1865) is hard to trace after the 1881 census.
• Charles James Hill (born 1869) and his wife Laura do not appear to have had any children. At the time of the 1911 census Charles (41) was living at 79 Great Clarendon Street with his wife Laura and his stepsons John, Reginald, and Algernon Oliver: he was described as an assistant in the business of a stationer & newsagent (probably that of his nephew Frank, whose father Robert had died the previous year). Charles was living at 9 Middle Way (then called George Street) in Summertown when he died at the Cowley Road Hospital on 24 March 1939. His effects came to £316 1s. 2d., and his executor was Miss Cecilia Jane Hill, the daughter of his brother Robert.